1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) system, and a method for providing content therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a content information sharing method in a conventional DLNA system.
Referring to FIG. 1, a command to detect content stored in a media server 20 is input to a media player 10 from a user in step S40. In step S42, the media player 10 produces a browse message to detect the content stored in the media server 20, and transmits the browse message to the media server 20. Here, the command to detect content may be sent to a single media server, or sent to multiple media servers.
After the browse message is received from the media player 10, the media server 20 creates a content item list result set for all the media formats of contents using a content directory service, and transmits the content item list result set to the media player 10 in step S44. The media player 10 then displays the content item list result set transmitted from the media server 20 in step S46.
If any content items are selected by the user from the displayed content item list in step S48, the media player 10 includes the selected content items in a content information 10 message, and transmits the content information message to a device 30 that is capable of reproducing the selected content items in step S50. The device 30 may be any type of a digital media renderer and/or player.
Although not illustrated in FIG. 1, the media player 10 should previously complete a detection process for the device 30, to ensure that the device 30 is capable of reproducing the content items selected by the user, before the media player 10 transmits the content message information.
After receiving the content information message from the media player 10, the device 30 inspects a protocol field in a classification header field included in the content information message received from the media player 10, and if the protocol field indicates the presence of the selected content items, the device 30 parses the content items included in a data field of the content information message, and stores the content items in step S52.
The media player 10 or the device 30 receives a command to reproduce content in the content items selected by the user, and then reproduces a corresponding content.
The above-described conventional DLNA system and content sharing method have a problem in that if a user performs switching for a content item from the media player 10 to the device 30, the user is required to make multiple input operations to receive a rendering service for the content item, and it is impossible to continuously resume reproduction of the content item. Consequently, the conventional content sharing may be inconvenient for a user to access.